narrative choices
Plot direction options
Narrative choices are the decisions a storyteller makes in constructing a work—what to include, what to omit, whose perspective to favor, where to begin and end.
The term appears in literary analysis and game design, where players make choices that affect the story: The game's narrative choices determine which characters survive.
In criticism, highlighting narrative choices reminds us that stories are constructed, not inevitable.
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
- story beatsKey narrative events
- branchingSplitting into separate directions
- branching pathsDiverging route options
- pathsCourses for travel
decisions · player · player agency · agency · consequences · butterfly effect · dialogue · options · forks · endings · multiple endings · good ending · bad ending · interactive · plotlines · divergent · outcomes · point of no return
- authorial purposepurpose, intent, aim, goal, meaning
- gamebooksbranching paths, multiple endings, alternate endings, page numbers, gamebooks
- story gamesinteractive fiction, visual novels, text adventures, gamebooks, multiple endings
narrative, narratives, narrator, narrators, narrate, narrated, narrating, narration, narrations